Malawi News Online (20) - 11/30/96

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE

A fortnightly update of news from
Malawi
Edition No: 20 30 November
1996

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is written by Malawian journalists
in Malawi and brings you the news from their point
of view. It is assembled and edited in Denmark by South
Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement,
publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine on Southern
Africa.

The fortnightly news updates from Malawi are provided
by our established network of journalists in Southern
Africa. They will be followed, in the not too distant
future, by individual news updates covering other Southern
African countries, ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE being the latest.

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is brought to you by a co-operation
between South Africa Contact and Inform, the leading
alternative information network in Denmark.

After a hesitant start, Malawi has taken the bold move
of pushing for the setting up of an independent committee
to probe into and record human rights atrocities committed
under three decades of the dictatorial excesses of
ex-president Kamuzu Banda.

A 9-member steering committee has been formed under
the History Project of the University of Malawi and
will seek opinions from civil society institutions
on concrete proposals and modalities for government
action. "We need to keep our past alive without
being its prisoner. We also need to safeguard against
the danger of sacrificing the truth in order to ensure
a fragile peace," said Brown Chimphamba, Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Malawi. In an interview, he said
there was a danger that human rights abuses would continue
if details of past violations and their causes were
not investigated.

At an earlier international forum on human rights, the
participants, who included lawyers, the clergy, trade
unionists and human rights groups, noted that forgiveness
and reconciliation were not possible until it was known
exactly what had to be forgiven. The forum also said
the independence of such probes should be guaranteed
to avoid being viewed as a party political initiative.
The coordinating committee is, however, yet to meet
the president who has powers to launch official investigations
into any matter of public interest. Dr. Wiseman Chirwa,
a lecturer at the University of Malawi, said the idea
of the independent committee would be for "national
healing." He said that people needed to clear
their names in order, for example, to run for public
offices but the probe would not necessarily mean prosecution.

The committee has already started interviewing members
of Jehovah's Witnesses, a religious sect whose members
were persecuted and banished from the country in the
70s for their refusal to buy party membership cards.
"We thought of publishing people's written testimonies
in the absence of a truth commission so that people
don't forget what happened in the past and to avoid
a repetition", said Dr Moira Chimombo, a committee
member. The testimonies will also be a ready reference
should a truth commission be set up in future. To ensure
fairness, the testimonies will be corroborated with
those of alleged perpetrators. The project is to be
funded by various international agencies.

United Council for Dialogue, the newly formed grouping
of political parties outside parliament, last week
demanded that government set up the truth commission
to establish who was behind the atrocities in the MCP
regime. UCD publicity secretary Kanyama Chiume alleged
that President Bakili Muluzi, as former secretary general
of the MCP, might be implicated in the assassination
plot of dissident Attati Mpakati in Zimbabwe in 1981.
Mpakati, leader of the Zambia-based Socialist League
of Malawi (Lesoma) is said to have been killed by agents
of the previous government. But Presidential Press
Officer Aladin Osman said it was wrong to assume that
Muluzi was involved in the plot to kill Mpakati. He
also said that the major snag to the formation of a
truth commission was funds. Others, however, see the
call for a commission as being motivated by the desire
to make political capital out of the issue. Lt Col.
Allan Kondowe, who worked with Mpakati in exile, said
Chiume was only trying to make political gain on the
demise of the Lesoma.

Malawi Institute of Democratic and Economic Affairs,
Midea executive director, Shyley Kondowe welcomed the
initiative of the university lecturers, saying finger
pointing by politicians can distort the significance
of a national truth commission. "As a nation that
suffered or witnessed atrocities we need to know what
happened and who did what," said Kondowe. "People
who participated in any atrocities should not be allowed
in any public office."

1. LAKE MALAWI BILHARZIA REPORT "UNTRUE"

Malawi could lose substantial revenue due to a reduced
number of tourists visiting the country following reports
in various international publications of bilharzia
infestation of Lake Malawi . The publications warn
against swimming in the lake.

A Reuters report from London released mid November quoted
a Dr Martin Cetron and his colleagues at the Center
for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, as claiming
that recently they studied 1,000 foreigners living
in Malawi and found that more than 300 of them had
the bilharzia parasite in their blood. The centre claims
that its data suggests that at least 5,000 expatriates
or tourists have bilharzia from swimming in Lake Malawi.
The report says that Lake Malawi may be promoted as
a freshwater lake but in fact there is a good chance
of bilharzia infection.

Secretary for Health and Population, Dr Winston Mukiwa
dismissed the findings of the report, saying he doubted
whether the study was genuine and adding that he did
not know of any research done by an international organisation
on the situation of bilharzia in the country. He argued
that bilharzia existed in almost all parts of eastern
and southern Africa and that it would be difficult
for tourists, who normally tour several countries before
coming to Malawi, to know exactly where they got the
bilharzia parasite.

2. POLICE PREPARED FOR ZAMBIAN REFUGEE INFLUX

Fears of a possible influx of refugees into Malawi from
Zambia following the elections there have spurred Malawi
police into action. They have drawn up a contingency
plan to receive what they believe will be hordes of
asylum seekers fleeing their homeland, following the
election results.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kennedy Chirambo
, warned policemen in a circular on November 7 that
the situation in Zambia could bring civil disturbance
which may result in some citizens fleeing the country
and seeking asylum in Malawi.

3. BANK ISSUES NEW COINS

The Reserve Bank of Malawi on November 11 issued a new
series of 20 tambala and 50 tambala coins. The bank
said that the new coins, bearing the portrait of President
Muluzi, will be used alongside the old ones of the
same denominations but bearing the portrait of ex-president
Banda.

The 20 and 50 tambala coins are the last in the series
of new bank notes and coins that the bank has issued.
The new K5, K10 and K20 bank notes were issued earlier
this year.

4. MALAWI STOCK EXCHANGE TAKES OFF WITH NICO
LISTING

The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE), is now off the ground
in earnest with the initial listing of shares of the
National Insurance Company, (NICO). MSE Chief Executive,
Rob Stangroom, said recently that as at October 29,
292,272 shares had been sold and by 11 November 600,000
shares had been traded.

At the close of the market on 12 November, shares selling
at 200 tambala were trading at 220 tambala registering
a rise of 10%. He described the initial 10-point high
at the close of trading as a good indication that the
MSE is off to a good start since this is the first
time Malawi has ever had a stock exchange.

The 15, 000 shares that were listed on the MSE were
part of the 20 million held by the Malawi Development
Corporation in NICO. The state-owned MDC held 20% shares
in NICO. MDC now has 5% shares in the company.

5. POLICE ARREST GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN HOUSE SCAM

Malawi fiscal police recently arrested three senior
government officials for their alleged role in a house
rent scam. Police arrested Under Secretary Rodrick
Ndala, who works for the Mzuzu establishment of Malawi's
second university, for allegedly leasing to the government
and collecting rent for a house still under construction.
Ndala is said to have defrauded the government of K60,000
($2,000).

In mid-November police also arrested a businessman in
the capital Lilongwe for claiming rent from the government
twice for the same house. Fiscal police chief Joseph
Aironi said the arrests were just the start of investigations
into government officials and other people involved
in the shady deals.

6. FIRMS EARMARK 4,000 HOUSES FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES

Two Zimbabwean firms will build 4,000 houses in the
city of Lilongwe in a joint venture project with two
other Malawian institutions starting next year. The
Malawi Building Society is a joint venture between
Zimbabwe's GS Investments and Rapid Investments and
the Malawi Development Corporation, Malawi Housing
Corporation.

The company will construct over 4,000 low cost houses
worth about K11.5 million (about $650,000). The two
Zimbabwean companies operate similar projects in Zimbabwe
where they have built over 5,000 houses.

7. MALAWI DEPORTS TEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Malawi has since November 7 deported ten illegal immigrants
of Asian and African origin who were in the country
without documentation. Deputy Chief Immigration Officer,
Austin Kalembera said three of the illegal immigrant
were Zambians who had no passports.

Other deportees included a Mozambican and a South African,
five Asians of Indian origin and a Pakistani national.
They were all arrested in Blantyre. Some of the five
Asians had expired residence permits while the South
African had dubious documentation. Kalembera said most
illegal immigrants of Asian origin come on the pretext
that they are investors.

8. WOMAN DIES AFTER HOTEL BALCONY FALL

A member of the Women's Guild in Blantyre's Church of
Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Synod who was with
a delegation to South Africa is believed to have jumped
from the 8th floor of her hotel in Durban on 22 November
sustaining serious injuries from which she died later
that day.

Mrs Rhoda Mutholo, 32, was among 17 members of a church
delegation from Blantyre Synod's Botanical Garden project
in South Africa on an educational tour on the maintenance
of botanical gardens. Her colleagues said that Mutholo
showed visible signs of distress the day before. Officials
of the Blantyre Synod refused to comment.